


The Choosing Ceremony

by mysupernaturalobsessions



Series: Divergent (A Destiel AU) [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Divergent Fusion, F/M, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-29
Updated: 2015-12-29
Packaged: 2018-05-10 06:58:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5575702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mysupernaturalobsessions/pseuds/mysupernaturalobsessions
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on the Divergent series. Cas is Tris and Dean is Four.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Choosing Ceremony

Castiel was standing in the kitchen washing dishes with his twin brother like they had done every other night for as long as he could remember. When they were nearly finished, Jimmy picked up the plates and hefted them into the bare cabinets. Castiel placed the silverware back in the drawer beside him. In the silence they clattered loudly. 

“I’m sorry for making a scene at dinner,” he said. 

Jimmy wiped aimlessly at the countertop with the rag in his hand. He spoke without looking up. “You just have to think of others, Castiel. It’s not that hard.”

“For you maybe,” Castiel muttered and Jimmy sighed.

“You have to think of others,” he reiterated. “But sometimes…sometimes you have to think of yourself.”

Castiel glanced up, but Jimmy was staring ahead, eyebrows scrunched. Then suddenly his face smoothed out, he shook his head and looked up at Castiel with a tired smiled. 

“Come on, we should get some sleep – big test in the morning.”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The five factions were divided into separate lines outside the testing center in the middle of the city. Abnegation – Castiel’s faction – stood in a straight line, all dressed in grey. They were the selfless ones. Candor – the honest ones. Erudite – the intelligent. Amity – the peaceful and kind. Every sixteen-year-old from every faction took the aptitude test on the same day to see where they fit. As nervous as Castiel was about it, he was relieved that there was a concrete way to find out who he was. 

Just as the doors in front of each line began to open, a high metallic squeal filtered through the air. Castiel turned around to watch as a train came screeching along the raised track behind them. Suddenly a waterfall of people dressed in black jumped from the speeding train and rolled off the platform. Then they all ran, full speed, into the building.  
Jimmy nudged Castiel forward, as their line proceeded calmly into the building and took their seats at the long wooden tables. 

Castiel tapped his feet as they were called one by one into several test rooms down the hall. As soon as one child returned, another would be called. Jimmy was called first, since he was technically older. Then it was his turn. 

“Castiel Novak.”

He stood up and walked numbly toward the back hall. A blonde woman stared impassively at him. She was dressed in black and covered in tattoos. Castiel couldn’t help but stare. She led him into a small room with a padded chair on one side and a big machine attached to a computer on the other. Every wall was made of mirrors. The different viewpoints of his reflection were distracting. He tried to look away, but only saw a different version of himself. He averted his eyes to the ground.

The woman snorted. “You stiffs always get weird around mirrors.”

“We reject vanity,” Castiel told her.

She shook her head. “Well, take a seat. I’m Jo, I’ll be administering your test today.” 

Jo handed Castiel a small vial with green liquid inside. He examined it. “What is it?”

“Down the hatch,” she instructed. 

Castiel felt the cool liquid on his tongue and in his throat. He felt himself start to slip into unconsciousness immediately. Jo held his arm and guided him back so he was resting more fully in the chair. Suddenly, he couldn’t feel her anymore. All the objects in the room disappeared. Castiel stood alone in the small mirrored room, staring at all the reflections. He glanced down quickly this time. All the colors shifted. He blinked, and found himself standing in front of two small tables. One had a piece of steak and one had a knife.

“Choose,” one of his reflections told him.

“What’s it for?”

“Just choose, before it’s too late.”

“But what am I going to do with it?” Castiel insisted. The room shifted again, as the tables disappeared and a dog appeared across the room. The dog snarled at him and stepped forward. Castiel tripped backwards, obviously a mistake, and the dog rushed toward him. Castiel glanced around himself, but the room was empty. He saw his own panicked expression in the mirrors. He glanced back at the dog. Helpless to do anything else, he fell to his knees in submission.

Then the room shifted again. 

Castiel was sitting on an empty bus. The only other patron sat across from him, reading a newspaper. The man was older. He looked up at Castiel with ice-grey eyes. He pointed to a picture on the page, a picture of a young woman with brown hair and big blue eyes. 

“Do you know her?” he asked. 

Lisa, his brain supplied. Castiel had the feeling that he did know her, but that telling the man would put her in danger. He considered it for a moment, and then shook his head. 

“No, I don’t know her.”

“Are you sure? I need help, I need to find her.”

Castiel hesitated longer this time before shaking his head again. 

The room came back into view around him. Castiel’s eyelids fluttered and suddenly Jo was there, standing over him. She helped him sit up. 

“What? What happened?”

“You finished,” Jo said quickly. She all but pried him from the chair. “You have to go. You go straight home, okay? Tell your parents the serum made you sick and you got sent home.”

“But what was my result?”

Jo halted for a second. “Abnegation. At least, that’s what I’m going to enter in the system.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Your results were inconclusive.”

“What does that mean?”

“Usually, people eliminate four of the factions as they progress through the simulation. But you only eliminated two, so your results are Abnegation, Erudite, and Dauntless. It’s rare, but it happens. It’s also very dangerous. You can’t tell anyone about this, Castiel, not even your parents.”

“But…”

“We don’t have much time. We’ve already taken longer than usual.”

“But what do I do?” Castiel plead. 

Jo shook her head. “I can’t tell you that. Just keep your mouth shut about what happened here today.” 

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Castiel went home feeling quite ill after all. It wasn’t hard to convince his parents. He still looked a little green when Chuck and Anna roused them for the choosing ceremony the next day. They ate a quiet breakfast together and left the house early. 

All the factions were divided into separate sections of the auditorium in the same building where they had taken the test. Castiel saw Jo sitting near the front of the Dauntless section. If she noticed him, her face betrayed no recognition. Castiel and his family were nearly at their own section when the leader of Erudite intercepted them, an aging little man dressed in blue.

“Chuck,” he nodded. 

“Hello, Meta,” Castiel’s father greeted him.

“I didn’t know your kids were choosing today,” Meta said, smiling over at Castiel and Jimmy. “You have a big decision to make.”

“It’s not really a decision,” Castiel said. Everyone stared at him and he glanced away for a second. “I mean, the test is supposed to tell us what to do.”

“I want you to do what you feel, in your heart and in your head, is right,” Meta said. “It is your right to go against the test after all. You should choose a faction based, not on the person you wish to be, but on the person you know you are.”

Meta smiled again, too widely, and walked away. He sat pompously at the front of the Erudite section, with a sea of blue behind him. Chuck led his family up the aisle to the nearest four empty seats. The entirety of Abnegation was silent, waiting for the proceedings. Castiel could almost hear his own heartbeat, loud and erratic and nervous. 

He was almost relieved when the lights when down. Five bowls were brought out to the table on the stage below. Each one held something different – soil for Amity, glass shards for Candor, water for Erudite, grey stone for Abnegation, and coals for Dauntless. Just as the prior day for testing, each person was called up one by one. Everyone would watch as they made a small cut on their palm and bled into the bowl of their chosen faction. Some people switched factions, most stayed the same. 

Erudite, Candor, and Amity would clap politely for any who chose them, even the ones born into them. Abnegation remained silence. Dauntless cheered incorrigibly. 

Castiel’s breath caught when his brother’s name was called. Jimmy walked assuredly toward the basins. He cut his palm and let his blood drop into the water. Castiel’s parent’s stiffened beside him. He didn’t have much time to gauge their reactions, though. As soon as the applause died down, he was called to the front. 

He hadn’t stopped thinking about this moment since his test results, the results which had told him he might be Abnegation or Dauntless or Erudite. If he chose Erudite, he could join his brother. But he had always expected Jimmy to remain at Abnegation. He was so much better at being selfless, and he was much more giving than Castiel. But Jimmy had chosen to leave, could Castiel leave his parents, too? Sometimes you have to think of yourself. Castiel cut quickly into his palm. He held his hand out and watched the blood fall and sizzle onto the bowl of hot coals. 

He turned around to the sound of screams, as his new home welcomed him.


End file.
